Parents Guide to Quality Play Based Learning at Home
What is Play-Based Learning?
Play-based learning is when play provides children opportunities for learning.
In Play-based learning, play is purposeful and play experiences are carefully planned to help children learn about real life and educational concepts, for example; literacy and numeracy, social skills etc.
In play-based learning, children are active participants in their play, where they engage in hands-on experiences to explore, experiment, investigate, ask lots of questions, negotiate, solve problems, take risks and create meanings in their play.
For parents to run successful, high-quality play-based learning at home, they will need to be actively involved in their child’s learning.
Quality Interactions is the key to providing high-quality play-based learning because through quality interactions parents;
learn about their children’s interests, so they can plan for or provide appropriate resources for experiences that are meaningful and deeply engaging for the child.
engage children in learning conversations where quality information is shared with the child, based on their enquiry,
can actively engage the child in investigations and explorations.
identify the gaps in the child’s knowledge about the topic of their interest.
identify the gaps in the child’s learning and development
embed educational learning concepts into play.
Providing engaging and interactive play is the best way for preschool/ kindergarten children to learn. A play where children have plenty of time to explore at their own pace.
Why Learning Through Play is Important for School Readiness?
Yes, you heard that right. The best way to engage 4-year-olds in learning is through play.
If you are thinking, “But my child goes to school next year. If all my child does is play, when will they learn and get ready for school.”
They are getting ready for school.
Children learn as they play.
"Most importantly, in play, children learn how to learn.” - O. Fred Donaldson.
Play is far more powerful than most parents realise.
When children engage in meaningful play, they become active participants or active learners.
Play is flexible, which allows children to explore, think, experiment, and investigate in their way, so they can learn to understand and make better sense of the world around them.
Through play, children are learning the foundations of many skills.
For example, a child needs to learn to hold a pencil properly before they can begin writing for school.
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When we provide opportunities for children to experiment with scribbling, drawing, colouring in play, we are allowing them to understand how a pencil, pen, Texta, chalk, works.
Children get a chance to practice holding the pencil and practice the correct grip.
Continued play opportunities will allow children to strengthen their grip, practice writing for longer and begin writing with more control.
So, you see, children are learning through their play. Their play takes them through multiple stages of learning, as they work towards their goal, i.e. writing.
Kindergarten children are building the foundations for learning at school, and parents play an important role in helping children build those foundations as strong as they can, through play.
Here is a helpful article: Importance of Play in Pre-School- Why Should Pre-Schoolers Play More?
How to Plan Effectively for Play- Based Learning for 4-Year-Olds at Home.
Understanding the 3-5 year Development Milestone
To plan to learn effectively for pre-schoolers/ kindergarteners, parents should have a fair idea of the developmental milestones for this (3-5) age.
Here is the Developmental Milestones that I like to refer to, for my kindergarten children.
https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2015/developmental-milestones.pdf
The developmental milestones will help you understand where your child is in their development. This will help you determine which areas of development your child requires more of your support in, so you can plan for their play learning accordingly.
Have Room for Flexibility and Spontaneity
The most important thing to note when planning for pre-schooler/ kindergarteners is to allow room for flexibility and spontaneity.
Young children are still learning to develop their emotion regulation skills, so there will be moments when they are too upset or too tired to participate in your meticulously planned activities.
Instead, just be there for them and work on their emotion regulation skills through gentle but children-friendly activities.
Helping children understand their emotions and regulate emotions is an important skill, especially for school readiness.
Here is a helpful article that explains How to Teach Self-Regulation Skills to Pre-Schoolers
Allow children to move and explore- remember, 4-year-olds are not built for sitting for long.
Let them add more items to the play you already set up. Let children explore, investigate, experiment and appease their curiosity.
When children are allowed to lead their play, they learn the joy for learning.
They want to know more, so it snowballs.
Here is a detailed article, Parent Guide -How To Be School Ready With Play that breaks down what skills children need for school readiness and how parents can nurture and develop these skills at home with play and everyday activities.
The Role of Parents In a Play-Based Learning at Home
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Setting up play experiences at home can be very different from a classroom.
It is not often possible to have a dedicated room set up as the ‘learning room’.
Children need constant attention, and it is often not possible for a parent to sit with one child in a room as there are other responsibilities like cleaning, cooking and looking after other kids.
It makes more sense to invest in learning stations that can be easily moved so that the child can be near you when they are engaging in their play.
This way, you can keep an eye on their progress and motivate or interact with them as necessary.
Be Organised
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It might be a good idea to invest in a sturdy but light table and chair that can be easily moved from indoor to outdoor for messy play.
Wooden table and chair sets look nice, but they are a pain to move around on your own.
I would recommend this plastic, lightweight table and chair set. It is easy enough to carry in and out on your own and you can just hose off all the mess.
Have some sort of cover under the table to protect your floors.
I like this playmat. It is waterproof which make cleaning all the mess so much easier.
It is 200 cm x180 cm which means more area of protection with just one mat plus it is very versatile.
You could set up the table on one side and there will still be plenty of room for your child to play on the floor.
Have a place to sort and store different play experiences.
The system should be easy enough for your pre-schooler to sort toys and pack them up by themselves.
I love, love, love this sort of storage. It has open shelving with multiple containers, making it easier for kids to access toys and sort and pack up on their own. The removable bins allow you to carry what you need, to the play area.
Having a separate organiser inside one of the bins that hold the art or stationery supplies is super handy, as you can just pull the organiser containing all the writing supplies onto the table.
There are many fancy pen holders and organisers on Amazon, but I find this one works best with kids.
It has sections for storing different pencils and pens and is lightweight and easy to clean.
Throw Pillow- Dinosaurs
Throw Pillow- Everything Magical
Dinosaur canvas
Pretty magical Canvas
Choosing the Right Resources for Play-Based Learning
Open-Ended Play Material
Open-ended play materials are a collection of items that allows children to make, create and experiment with. You can use anything ……… yes, anything for this play; bottle tops, leaves, spoons, letter tiles, pots, broom, sticks, pebbles, figurines, loose pieces of LEGO….anything.
The idea is that the construction or play using open-ended resources does not limit the child to making only one thing in one way.
The play materials can be arranged and rearranged in different play scenarios to suit the purpose of play at that time.
Remember quality interaction is the foundation of quality play- based learning.
When Introducing Open-Ended materials into play, know your child’s interests.
For example; If your child like collecting shells, then add a collection of shells to their play.
Initiate conversations on where shells come from, how are shells made, what else lives in the sea, what different sea creatures look like, what do they eat…….etc.to engage your child in that learning conversation to spark curiosity for learning.
You can find books, go to the library or use google together to research these topics.
Maybe your child would like to create an under the sea scene with the shells and other sea animals you have on hand or you could figure out together how to create sea animals together using, for example, playdough, magazine cuttings, slime etc.
Can you see how many learning opportunities can be created from open-ended play resources?
Age-Appropriate Literacy and Numeracy Materials
Most parents often relate literacy and numeracy activities with school readiness.
With beginner learners, I would highly recommend the resources mentioned below instead of using writing worksheets or templates
Children first need to understand what the letters and numbers mean, how it connects to their world, and what importance it has in their life.
Open-ended materials like counters, loose pieces of numbers and letters allow children to use them in different plays, for example finding 4 pieces of bugs hidden in the play dough to place on the number 4 flashcard or treasure hunting for all the letters to match the letters on the name card.
Here are some recommendations for the items I use but feel free to get similar items from somewhere else.
Counters- there are many different sorts available on Amazon.
Try and pick something that your child would love.
For e.g., I like these garden critter counters because I can then use these counters when exploring other topics with children like gardening or garden bugs and these sea animals counters come in handy when we are exploring sea animals. But if your child is crazy about dinosaurs then this one might be for you.
If you are looking for a Number Printable Activity than this is a great option for you.
With 60 pages of activities for counting, tracing, writing 1-10 designed with the characters from the children’s picture book- Todd the Frog Finds the Lost pebbles is aimed to improve number recognition, 1-1 correspondence and number writing skills for preschool and kindergarten kids.
Here is a helpful article on How To Teach Pre-Schoolers Numbers At Home The Fun Way.
Supplies for Writing and Art
I believe in always having a basic set of stationery and art supplies on hand because they always come in handy when engaging children in creative learning opportunities.
Paper
(Recycled paper, printouts, scrapbooking leftovers, old magazines, toy catalogues etc.)
paintbrush set with different tips e.g. thick. Thin, rounded, flat
Clear ruler for durability.
Conclusion
Setting up Play-based learning experiences at home is not difficult. The Development Milestones is an important resource to help parents figure out what skills or development their child needs most help with, so play experiences can be planned accordingly.
With a little bit of resourcefulness and creativity, parents can offer great learning opportunities for children right at home. Quality interactions are the key to quality play-based learning experiences.